News | West Harlem

Professor fails to appear in court after charges of assault

After allegedly assaulting a Columbia employee at a local bar in November, associate professor Lionel McIntyre failed to appear in court on Monday, Jan. 11.

According to police reports after the incident, McIntyre—a professor in the urban planning program at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation—punched School of the Arts production manager Camille Davis at Toast, a bar on Broadway near 125th Street. After McIntyre failed to appear in court this week on his scheduled date, the case has been delayed two more weeks.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said on Tuesday that the judge had issued a bench warrant for McIntyre’s arrest for failure to appear. His parole has also been revoked. The case has been adjourned until Jan. 26, but the warrant means that McIntyre could legally be arrested at any point before then, according to the DA spokesperson. McIntyre had previously been released without bail.

McIntyre allegedly punched Davis at Toast on Nov. 6, 2009, according to police reports, which noted that Davis had “bruising, redness and swelling in the right eye” and suffered “substantial pain.” Davis reported the assault three days later, and McIntyre was arrested and charged with third-degree assault on Nov. 9.

Daniel Morgan, a former regular at Toast who said he knew both McIntyre and Davis, though he was not at the bar during the incident, said the assault was likely prompted by a dispute that may have been about race.

Morgan criticized the bar for not calling the police. He said that people from the bar, where he is no longer allowed, have said to him, “Thanks for getting Mac arrested.”

“They're afraid of losing their jobs," Morgan said on Monday. "They thought they could contain it by themselves. No one will take any responsibility for these actions."

The owner of Toast could not be reached for comment, and a manager at the 125th Street location, where the incident took place, declined to comment. Columbia spokesperson Robert Hornsby also declined to comment. Lionel McIntyre could not be reached for comment.

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oneofmany314 posted on Nov 14, 10:37pm

This guy doesn't deserve to work in academia if he isn't capable of debating a topic without losing his objectiveness. He is very likely an insecure individual that just fakes his way through life. Columbia show that you are an institution of higher learning and let show McIntyre the door.

"...the judge had issued a bench warrant for McIntyre’s arrest for failure to appear. His parole has also been revoked."

Only people convicted of a crime can be placed on parole. If McIntyre had a criminal record and was on parole, I'm sure that fact would have been mentioned in the press. What the court revoked was probably a bail bond.

First of all, none of us were there and therefore we cannot imagine what happened that provoked the renown Professor McIntyre to react somewhat forcefully. Therefore we should not judge him before the facts are known. For all we know, she could have said something extremely rude, hateful or threatening to him. She may have even used the N word, which I suspect was the case. Innocent until proven guilty.

No matter what she said no excuse for punching a woman in the face. I wonder if the gentleman above runs around punching women in the face if they don't agree with him. If she had been black, and a white professor punched her in the face, it would have been all over the news. Racism works both ways....that professor is a coward, abuser of women, and racist.

Taveriusdawson: You tell others to reserve judgment but claim you believe she probably said the N word implying that his actions were probably justified. How many ethnic studies courses does it take to turn a rational individual into someone such as yourself? Just wondering.

Would the punching of someone be considered a crime, or is it MORE of a crime because the victim was a woman? I was not there that night, and I was not a witness to what happened. I'm only going by what has been reported. I do not know who said what to whom, or whatever was the progress of the heated argument. I just happen to believe that no one (man, woman, white, black, green, purple, gay, straight, etc.) should be assaulted - I'm simple that way.